Big
History (2013/Lionsgate/A + E/History Channel Blu-ray Set)
Picture:
A- Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: A-
Do
you know cell phones were the result of the Titanic sinking? Or that
all the minerals and ores we find on Earth come from meteors? Or
that Sun worshipers were not wrong about the sun creating all life on
Earth? People see the Earth's past as a timeline, but it is far more
larger and more complex like a web. Big
History
takes a step back and takes a look how evolution plus 13.7 billion
years have shaped everything on Earth. Nothing is too small to not
have made an impact and we are all connected to it.
This
documentary cable TV mini-series unique look at history through the
eyes of evolution, science and the eons that it took to get there.
From how the smallest grain of salt that brought life to how The Big
Bang exists in our cell phones. There is an evolutionary connection
for everything. The true reason for the revolutionary war was
caffeine, beef caused human brains to evolve bigger. Big
History
takes a look on how things came to be. Everything down to it's
atoms and physics, and their impact and importance over centuries.
How without those things, phenomenons, life forms Earth would have
taken a very different course.
The
wheel is said to be one of man's greatest invention and forever
change the destiny of mankind, but what of all other things we take
for granted, mountains, meteors, caffeine, gold and silver ...these
things course of this planet's history. Big History uses CGI,
TV historical dramas and the voice of Bryan Cranston (Breaking
Bad) to illustrate and explain how everything leads back to the
Big Bang. While it take a bigger/larger view, but when
you take view that's too big or too long the science becomes a little
vague and people begin to question it's relevance. And also while
humans have invented incredible things, humankind itself is now
outside of nature, having replaced evolution with science, we no
longer evolve, instead we adapt everything to us.
---------------------------------------------------------
The
Superpower of Salt - Salt
is the building block of all life, without it, no life would exist on
this Earth.
Horse
Power Revolution -
Taming the horse has expanded and advanced civilizations, changed
life around the globe.
Gold
Fever -
Why is gold the #1 medal and considered the metal of the Gods?
Below
Zero -
Because of cold climates it lead to the creation of all the different
races animals and humans on Earth.
Megastructures
-
How did the pyramids and temples appear all over the Earth and why
mankind does builds them?
Defeating
Gravity -
How man learned how to fly and how gravity is both a friend and foe.
World
of Weapons -
The evolution of humans and their weapons can traced from first rock
spears to modern projectile weapons.
Brain
Boost -
Caffeine is what really started the European trade and the American
Revolution fought over.
Mountain
Machines -
Mountains are the treasure trove of mankind's resources and causes of
the world's weather phenomenons.
Pocket
of Time Machine -
Today's technology and cell phones are the offspring of The Big Bang.
Deadly
Meteors -
Meteors cause the extinction of the dinosaurs but without them
humankind would have stayed in the stone age.
Decoded
-
Humans follow code and language, but is there an universal language?
Rise
of the Carnivores -
Because of meat and beef, humans were able to evolve bigger brains
and become most intelligent creature on the planet.
The
Sun - The
death of suns, supernovas are what give the universe all it's
elements.
Silver
Supernova -
Silver is the reason why civilization has expanded and started global
trade.
H2O
-
Water is the perfect element for all things and the formation of
life.
The
Big History of Everything -
Everything is connected.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image has lots of CG, but it
matched the digital look of the episodes, but the lossless DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 sound is much weak and more restricted than it
should be for such a mix as if the sound was being spread out one way
and compressed another. The only extras are 10 shorts that run over
a half-hour that were OK, but nothing spectacular.
-
Ricky Chiang
